Lengthen Your Stride

P.D. Laws

High Council Speaking Assignment

Olive Branch

July 1995

The first week of June in our semi-annual Stake Conference, we were instructed and edified by Elder Stephen D. Nadauld, our Area President and a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy. His remarks and instructions in the Priesthood Leadership Training Meeting, which was the first session of the conference, is the assigned topic to the High Council and thus, to the entire Stake. I hope that I can convey even a portion of the great Spirit that I felt in that meeting. It was a thrill to sit at the feet of one of the Lord's annointed servants for two full hours and hear his council and instruction. The Stake Presidency, whom I have the honor and privilege of serving so closely with, has continued to tell us as a High Council that our Stake needs to "Lengthen Our Stride". That we as a people need to look further and higher, to extend a little further our reach towards correct principles, and to walk the path of righteousness with greater perseverance. We live in a day of great strife where "the love of men has waxed cold" and where there are "great pollutions upon the face of the Land". The pollutions of which I speak are not the ones created by smokestacks. I speak of the influences of satan and his followers. Those of you who were in attendance at the Stake Auxiliary Training Meeting this past Thursday will recall the comments of President Holbert to the effect that there is a great battle waging between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The combatants have never been stronger while on the same hand the ferociousness of the battle has never been so great and the casualties so numerous. This battle is of course for the souls of men. You and I take upon ourselves the armor of our Father when we make and keep sacred covenants with Him. We take it upon ourselves when we humbly share the message of the restored gospel with our fellowman.

    Elder Nadauld shared information with us that indicates that in nearly every activity measure in the Church, we in the Southeast region of the Church are holding steady or declining. He encouraged us to, and I quote "Crank it up a notch-and get after it". What I think he was saying is simply "lengthen your stride". A few years ago, President Kimball, beloved prophet of the church, coined this phrase to indicate to the Saints that plateaus while beautiful are no place for the Saints to rest, that we needed as a people to move forward and upward. This call has been re-issued to us. In what areas do we need increased vigor? I believe that the essential element of covenant-making permeates the entire fabric of Elder Nadauld's instructions to the Stake Priesthood Leadership. Elder Boyd K. Packer, acting President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, has written,

Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into His presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality. (Ensign, May 87, pg 24)

 

    They become, in effect, a qualifying element that establishes an additional level of blessings not available to those who have not entered into a like covenant. Covenants have the unique ability to strengthen our resolve to do the right things. When I was a young boy my earthly father taught me the importance of covenants in an interesting way. One day as we were travelling together on a remote section of highway we began to discuss the Word of Wisdom, a gospel teaching I had been aware of from an early age. After discussing the harmful effects brought into the body by these substances, my father asked me if I would covenant with him that I would never partake of these substances. He said that this promise and covenant with him would strengthen my resolve when tempted to partake and that I would have the ability to resist in that I had already decided. I did promise, and I happily confess to you that from that day to this I have never broken that promise. The covenants we enter into with the Lord have immeasurable power. We as Saints should diligently seek to obtain all of the covenants that the Lord has made available to us. These include: Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, The Priesthood (Aaronic, Melchizedek), the Endowment, and the Sealing of husbands to wives eternally. As families, we develop the desire to honor and obtain the blessings associated with eternal families. This is done through continued faithful observance of the Lord's commandments. As adults, we strive to obtain the marvelous blessings of the Temple as encouraged by our recent Prophet President Howard W. Hunter. We also busy ourselves with providing these exalting blessings to our kindred dead through genealogical research. We prepare our youth to labor as missionaries and to be worthy to enter the Temple to receive their own endowments. All Saints work together to see that the Lord's grand design to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" is realized. As we toil together with eyes on the prize we unitedly find we can accomplish much in the way of good. Elder Boyd K. Packer tells the following story about being at a county fair in New England years ago:

    oxen sledge pull

    big blue, beautifully matched pair

    did not win. a smaller mismatched pair did.

    they hit the yoke together.

 

We need to hit the yoke together by urging all to come unto Christ.

"Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matt 11:28-30)

The yoke spoken of, more than a piece of wood, signifies obedience and true discipleship. May we have an increased desire to qualify for His kingdom by lengthening our stride through making and keeping sacred covenants.